Health Risk Perceptions, Awareness and Handling Behaviour of Pesticides by Farm Workers

The level of awareness regarding pesticide use/ handling has been reported in the farms of Kerala and the same has been compared with the adoption pattern and experiences of health risk episodes, in a society with high level of literacy. The understanding on various aspects of pesticide-use has revealed better awareness in certain aspects and poor understanding in certain others. The workers have not been given adequate training to understand the toxicity level by looking at the colour code on the packet, though they have been found aware about the different options available in the market. Often their perceptions of toxicity level of chemicals they handle are not in conformity with the actual situation; they have been found handling toxic chemicals considering them to be safe ones. Despite a high literacy level, most of them do not care to read the instructions and follow them. The study has found that a majority of the respondents are of satisfactory health status by the body mass index values. The short-term health risk upon occupational exposure has been reported very common; its frequency increases as one gets more years of experience in the work. It has been attributed to their inadequate understanding of the toxicity levels, unscientific handling practices and poor personal protective mechanism. The study has highlighted the need for targeted trainings to farm labourers besides farmers on the scientific management of pesticides and undertaking of massive awareness generation programmes.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Is Irrigation Water only Used for Irrigation? An Enquiry into the Alternative Uses and an Attempt on Valuation

Irrigation sector investments in Kerala have been mounting since Independence, but the financial performance of these investments has been far from satisfactory. In an era of growing divergence in water supply and demand, the emergence of water markets is imminent. This calls for a realistic pricing strategy for water use, whether in agriculture or other sectors. The canal water though targeted at the agriculture sector, is often put to non-irrigation uses. This paper has discussed a method to quantify the non-irrigation uses of canal water and has assessed the value of the same, based on a sample study in Peechi Irrigation Command Area in Thrissur district of Kerala, India . The value has been assessed for the water used directly for irrigation from the canal system, water used through the recharge facility from the canal and non-irrigation uses (domestic).Agricultural and Food Policy,

Pesticide Use in the Rice Bowl of Kerala: Health Costs and Policy Options

This study examines pesticide use in Kuttanad, India, an economically sensitive area often referred to as the rice bowl of Kerala. Using primary data collected from pesticide applicators and farm labor, the study assesses short-term health costs associated with pesticide exposure. The study finds that the toxicity level and dose of pesticides can exert a significant effect on the health of pesticide applicators. The average expected health costs from pesticide exposure are Rs. 38 (US $ 0.86) per day or 24% approximately a quarter of the average daily earnings of the applicator. // The study finds that health costs can be mitigated considerably by reducing the dose of pesticides used. For examples, a 25% reduction in either the does of the most toxic chemical used, or in all pesticide doses, results in a 16% and 24% reduction in health costs respectively. A 24% reduction in costs can be realized if all pesticide doses are reduced by 25%. Dose reduction is a desirable and feasible strategy that can be achieved either by restricting the quantity of pesticide used or by diluting the amount sprayed with the recommended levels of water. Less than 2% of the applicators understood the toxicity levels of the pesticides they used. Thus, there is ample scope for reducing pesticide exposure through training and agricultural extension services

An unusual bilateral variation of musculocutaneous nerve.

Musculocutaneous nerve arises from the lateral cord (C5,6,7) of brachial plexus. Communications between the branches of brachial plexus are not so common. During routine dissection, we observed bilateral variation in 60-year-old female cadaver. In the present case, median nerve represented as a musculocutaneous nerve which supplied biceps brachii and brachialis, further continued into forearm as lateral cutaneous nerve of forearm on the right arm. This branch did not pass through coracobrachialis muscle but the coracobrachialis was innervated by a branch from lateral cord of brachial plexus. We also observed an abnormal communicating branch between the musculocutaneous and median nerve on left side of the arm. These kinds of variations are important for surgeons while performing surgeries of axilla and upperlimb

A cost model for testing unmanned and autonomous systems of systems

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Aeronautics and Astronautics; and, (S.M. in Technology and Policy)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, Technology and Policy Program, 2011.Vita. Page 124 blank. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 113-114).The evolutionary nature of Unmanned and Autonomous Systems of Systems (UASoS) acquisition needs to be matched by equally evolutionary test capabilities in the future. There is currently no standard method to determine what is required to make programs safe for deployment, nor is there the ability to make effective contingency plans should testing requirements change. Spending too much effort designing goals when causal understandings are still in flux is inefficient. As such, policy making and enforcing policies on the deployment of UASoS becomes very problematic. Testing is required especially for UASoS to identify risk, improve capabilities and minimize unpleasant surprises. It needs to be effective and focused, determining the issues and working towards ensuring the risks of the UASoS are known. It is important to have adequate feedback loops, a culture of information sharing and learning from best practices, as well as the development of metrics and/or performance indicators that adequately reflect the effectiveness of the test process. This thesis describes a model that is part of a larger Prescriptive and Adaptive Testing Framework (PATFrame), which uses knowledge acquisition to minimize risk through a decision support system. This work presents the cost and risk considerations for UASoS T&E and provides the preliminary parameters to conduct trade-off analyses for T&E. It also provides guidance on how the DoD can adopt such tools to transform the DoD T&E enterprise. The model is a combination of information collected from various normative and descriptive views of testing based on literature review, surveys, and interviews with members of the Department of Defense (DoD) T&E community A cost estimation model can have significant impacts on how the DoD currently does testing and would help maximize the use of the resources available. It is a model based method for calculating effort for test and evaluation and forms a baseline for strategic decision making in DoD acquisition programs. The intent is to predict within a certain probability that a test program can be completed within a certain budget given the assumptions used in characterizing the UASoS and the T&E process.by Indira D. Deonandan.S.M.in Technology and PolicyS.M

Facing hazards at work : agricultural workers and pesticide exposure in Kuttanad, Kerala

This policy brief is based on SANDEE working paper no. 20-07, "Pesticide use in the rice bowl of Kerala : health costs and policy options"Pesticides are responsible for hundreds of cases of poisoning in the developing world, where information and training on the potential negative health effects of these chemicals is often lacking. While the impact of the indiscriminate use of toxic chemicals is widely acknowledged, the economic costs of this misuse are less well known. This has held back investment in the necessary health and safety programmes that can safeguard people’s well-being

“ COST AND BENEFIT ANALYSIS “ KAYU SENGON SEBAGAI BAHAN BAKU EKSPOR PLYWOOD PADA PT. PERKEBUNAN NUSANTARA XII (PERSERO) SURABAYA

Faktor biaya dan manfaat perlu dipertimbangkan untuk memastikan apakah perusahaan akan menerima keuntungan atau kerugian. Karena masalah keuntungan atau kerugian akan mengakibatkan dampak yang fatal dan dapat berakhir pada kepailitan perusahaan, maka perlu dilakukan pengukuran studi kelayakan yang salah satunya dengan cost and benefit analysis. Tujuan yang ingin dicapai dalam penelitian ini adalah untuk mengumpulkan data biaya dan manfaat serta mengukur data biaya dan manfaat kayu sengon sebagai bahan baku ekspor plywood sehingga dapat memastikan apakah budidaya kayu sengon dapat diterapkan atau tidak. Komponen utama yang diperlukan untuk menentukan cost and benefit analysis pada PT Perkebunan Nusantara XII (Persero) adalah biaya investasi dan biaya produksi. Biaya investasi menentukan besarnya biaya yang harus dikeluarkan pada saat pemeliharaan kayu sedangkan biaya produksi adalah biaya yang dikeluarkan pada saat kayu tersebut ditebang dan akan dijual. Kedua komponen tersebut dihubungkan dengan pendapatan yang diperoleh dari penjualan yang kemudian akan diketahui labanya. Kemudian analisa dilakukan dengan mengalokasikan biaya investasi dan biaya produksi pada bank untuk mengetahui besarnya laba apabila biaya tersebut dialokasikan pada bank. Dari hasil analisa diketahui bahwa pendapatan yang diperoleh dari investasi di bank jauh lebih kecil dibandingkan dengan pendapatan yang diperoleh PT Perkebunan Nusantara XII (Persero) dari budidaya kayu sengon. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa PT Perkebunan Nusantara XII (Persero) dapat terus meningkatkan budidaya kayu sengon untuk meningkatkan ekspor plywood karena usaha ini layak untuk dijalankan dan dikembangkan

New Mechanism Based Anticancer Drugs for Treatment of Pancreatic and Bladder Cancers

Methyl 2-cyano-3,11-dioxo-18b-olean-1,12-dien-30-oate (CDODA-Me) is a synthetic triterpenoid that inhibits growth of Panc1 and Panc28 pancreatic cancer cell lines and activates peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor B (PPARB)-dependent transactivation in these cells. CDODA-Me has also induced p21 and p27 protein expression and downregulated cyclin D1; however, these responses were receptor-independent. CDODA-Me induced apoptosis, which was accompanied by receptor-independent induction of the proapoptotic proteins early growth response-1 (Egr-1), nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug-activated gene-1 (NAG-1), and activating transcription factor-3 (ATF3). Induction of NAG-1 in Panc28 cells was p38-mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3-K)-dependent, but Egr-1-independent, whereas induction in Panc1 cells was associated with activation of p38-MAPK, PI3-K and p42-MAPK and was only partially Egr-1-dependent. Specificity protein (Sp) transcription factors Sp1, Sp3 & Sp4 are overexpressed in multiple tumor types and negative prognostic factors for survival. Since Sp proteins regulate genes associated with survival (survivin), angiogenesis [vascular endothelial growth factor and its receptors] and growth [cyclin D1, epidermal growth factor receptor], research in this laboratory has focused on development of anticancer drugs that decrease Sp protein expression. Arsenic trioxide, curcumin, 2-cyano-3,12-dioxoleana-1,9-dien-28-oic acid (CDDO), CDDO-Me, and celastrol exhibit antiproliferative, antiangiogenic and proapoptotic activity in many cancer cells and tumors. Treatment of cancer cells derived from urologic and gastrointestinal tumors with arsenic trioxide decreased Sp1, Sp3 and Sp4 transcription factors and cotreatment with the proteosome inhibitor MG132 did not inhibit downregulation of Sp proteins in these cancer cells. Mechanistic studies suggested that compound-dependent downregulation of Sp and Sp-dependent genes was due to decreased mitochondrial membrane potential and induction of reactive oxygen species, and the role of peroxides in mediating these responses was confirmed using hydrogen peroxide, demonstrating that the mitochondriotoxic effects of these compounds are important for their anticancer activities. Moreover, repression of Sp and Sp-dependent genes by CDDO-Me and celastrol was due to downregulation of microRNA-27a and induction of ZBTB10, an Sp repressor, and these responses were also reversed by antioxidants. Thus, the anticancer activity of CDDO-Me and celastrol is due, in part, to activation of ROS which in turn targets the microRNA-27a:ZBTB10?Sp transcription factor axis to decrease growth inhibitory, pro-apoptotic and antiangiogenic genes and responses

Organic Farming in India : Catalysts that Can Help in Transition

Organic farming has been receiving policy support from both the central and state governments in India since 2005. The shift in policy thrust from conventional chemical-input based farming to organic farming comes as a response to the sustainability concerns surrounding Indian agriculture. Despite this,organicfarming remains niche, with less than 2% of the net sown area in the country under organic production. This paper suggests market-based instruments—which have been successful in inducing changes in farming practices in some countries across the globe—as complementary policy mechanisms for catalysing the transition to organic farming in India